The Philadelphia 76ers will have the first overall pick in the NBA Draft for the second consecutive year after finalizing their deal with the Celtics on Monday and moving up from the No. 3 spot.

Most expect the Sixers to take Washington guard Markelle Fultz first overall and pair him with Ben Simmons, who missed what would have been his rookie season with a foot injury after going No. 1 last year.

The Celtics will get an additional first-round pick in the 2018 or 2019 draft in exchange for moving down two spots in the first round — and could very well end up selecting the same player they had in mind anyway, with Fultz not a great fit due to the presence of Isaiah Thomas and the Lakers expected to take Lonzo Ball at No. 2.

Fultz to the Sixers is the culmination of what Sam Hinkie started four years ago in tearing the Sixers down in order to build them up. A three-player young core (Joel Embiid is 23, Ben Simmons is 20, Fultz is 19) that will be the envy of the league. It’s far from a sure thing that this core will develop; and Fultz’s college team won all of nine games despite his enormous talent.

Well this got interesting pretty quick. A week ago we thought we had a pretty good idea of how this first round — or at least how this lottery – was going to go down. Markelle Fultz to the Celtics, Lonzo Ball to the Lakers, Josh Jackson to the Sixers, etc.

With the 2017 NBA Draft looming on Thursday, Houston Chronicle writer Jonathan Feigen releases the final edition of his mock draft. One of seven teams without a first-round pick, the Rockets are slated to pick 43rd and 45th (with picks acquired from Denver and Portland), though they could look to package picks to move up, rather than add two more second-rounders.

Oregon made its first Final Four run in over 70 years this season, and Jordan Bell was a big reason why. The 6-9 forward was, for this evaluator’s money, the best defensive player in college hoops last season. He was the only player in college basketball this season to post at least a 22 percent defensive rebounding rate, eight percent block rate and 2.5 percent steal rate.Watch Now